Dancer
by Kiara1
Summary: The story of a dancer in Jabba's Palace


Disclaimer: The Star Wars Universe and all characters belong to George Lucas and Lucasfilm.  
  
Dancer  
  
I sat at the dias in Jabba's Palace, a chain around my neck and not wearing much else. It had been how long since I arrived? Perhaps two or three miserable weeks. I looked around the inner court and found the familiar shadows slinking around the stony walls; a bounty hunter, a fellow dancer, a Gamorrean guard. How did I arrive here again? Oh yes. That's it. It was that one fateful day back on my home planet of Corellia...  
  
***  
  
"Raina!" shouted a young woman running down the street.  
I paused the music on the holorecorder and looked up to find my best friend running toward me with a datachip in her hand. "Raina, I got us a job in the cantina down the street," she said, trying to catch her breath.  
I looked up at her in disbelief from my seat on the ground. "You're kidding, Taleyn. They want us as dancers?"  
Taleyn nodded her head enthusiastically, the bright sun turning her hair gold and then red with each movement. "They want us to start tonight!" she said.  
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. We had been trying to get jobs that involved dancing ever since we had been old enough to work. Now that we had moved out of our parents' houses, we knew there was no one to object to us dancing in a cantina into the early hours of the morning. We were both very much aware of the dangers that went with the work, which was why we had been trying to get jobs at the cantinas known for their cleanliness and even partial order. Finally, after years of persistence, we had finally snagged two dancing positions.  
A smile graced my face as I replied, "Well, let's get down there and get details," I said.  
"That's what this is for," she explained, handing me the datachip. "The owner said it would tell us everything we needed to know."  
  
***  
  
That night, as we were waiting for the band to start up, the owner walked up to us. "Good evening, ladies," he said. "The band is a little behind schedule, so we need you to just start dancing. Not many patrons are here yet, and I'm hoping the dancing will attract more people."  
Taleyn and I exchanged glances as I replied, "We'll be right out."  
The owner nodded and left, leaving us to our excitement. I tied up my raven black hair with a red ribbon to match my costume and looked over at Taleyn. "Ready?" I asked.  
"Very," she replied. "Let's go!"  
We walked out to the section of floor space where we would be dancing and surveyed the cantina. It wasn't quite late enough to have many people in the patron crowd, but there were a few. The cantina was lit by dim lights which made it difficult to see into the crowd, but I assumed that was the point of it. There was already an air of danger about the place, but Taleyn had convinced me that it was run with security in mind by a respectable owner. Being the naive person I was, I believed her.  
As we were about to start dancing, a group of males of different species walked into the cantina and the leader spoke with the owner. Pointing over to where we were, the owner said something and turned back to overseeing the already tipsy patrons.  
The group walked over to us and set down their black cases. Without a word, they pulled out instruments and quickly discussed something. There was no warning before music began playing and Taleyn and I exchanged nervous glances. We waited for the next bar of music and started our dance.  
And so started my night job in the cantina. I slept during the day and met Taleyn at the cantina in the late afternoon. We'd spend the rest of the daylight hours rehearsing dances and getting ready for that night. After the first week or so, it had become a routine for both of us. So much of a routine, in fact, that the daily arguments we had about which dances we were doing were expected. As the weeks progressed, they became worse and more malicious, but we always seemed to reconcile before we started dancing.  
About eight or nine weeks after we started working at the cantina, the owner dropped some unexpected news on us.  
We were going over some intricate turns and arguing over which ones to add into the routine when he walked into our practice area. "Ladies, I have some news for you. The cantina can no longer support two dancers per night because we are losing money. I want you," he said, pointing at me, "to stay and continue working for me."  
I gaped at him. "What? But what about..." I looked over at Taleyn and found her staring at the owner in shock. As the news registered, however, she began glowering at me.  
"This is all your doing," she said in an accusatory tone. "I should have never given into doing all the dances you wanted to do. You knew I wasn't that good at them and now I just lost my job." She gathered her dance bag and stood up, shoving her feet into her shoes. "Have fun dancing, Raina," she said angrily. "I hope you won't be here very long either, and don't come crying to me when you're not." Without another word, she left the room. I looked to find the owner, but he had left while Taleyn was ranting.  
An unsettling cloud seemed to loom over the room as I stood up, still partially in shock. Shrugging off the overhanging dread, I made my way out to the dance floor and began my first dance of the night.   
Later that night, I was in the middle of an intricate Correlian dance and unfortunately didn't notice the owner talking to two thugs until they were within five feet of me.   
I stopped in mid-turn and looked frantically around. The two men dressed in all black were closing in on me and I had nowhere to run. The band kept playing and the patrons in the cantina were too drunk to even notice that I wasn't dancing anymore.  
The first thug pulled out his blaster and held it to my head and the second quickly covered my mouth tightly with his hand. I tried to fight them, kicking the first in the shins and then biting the other one's hand and trying to duck out from underneath his arm, but he clenched it around my neck so I was gasping for air. They dragged me outside and clipped a pair of stuncuffs around my wrist. I still hadn't heard a single word pass between them, but fervently wished I knew what they wanted with me. The one still had his hand over my mouth and held me so close I could smell rancid sweat on his leather jacket. I didn't know what was going to happen to me, but they seemed like bounty hunters or mercenaries, and that wasn't good for me in any case.   
I was dragged off into a dark alley, starting to panic while they carried me back to their ship or hideout. I didn't want them to kill me or worse, rape me and then kill me. I tried to struggle, but as soon as I started squirming, I felt a blaster pressed painfully hard against my temple. I attempted to say something, but that only resulted in the one holding me trying to strangle me.  
"Just knock her unconscious," said the one walking behind me.  
"Jabba wants her alive when we get there."  
"I said knock her unconscious, not kill her, you ass," he replied, irritably.  
I tried to struggle and protest throughout the brief conversation, and then avoid the butt of the blaster, but I was unsuccessful.  
  
***  
  
I didn't know what time it was when I finally regained consciousness, but I was very aware of the freezing cold floor and the very tender, painful bump on the back of my head.  
Remembering the last time I was awake, I groaned and rubbed my hands over my face. I couldn't believe that I had let myself get carried off like a sack of vegetables only to end up on a ship headed toward Jabba's Palace. I had heard of it. Some made it sound like the most glorious place one could live. Others described it as a living hell.  
I decided I would find out for myself when I arrived.  
  
***  
  
...Definitely a living hell, I thought to myself as I was pulled closer to the living lardball of a Hutt. I was not going to be living here long, though. Many of the dancers here survived as long as I had at the cantina that was reponsible for landing me here in the first place.  
I had discovered later that Jabba had heard of me from one of the patrons and had sent his thugs after me to bring me to his palace for his entertainment. I was not pleased when I found out that was the one reason Taleyn had been sent away; so she wouldn't interfere with the kidnapping.   
I gazed around the room one more time, watching the people and aliens sitting at tables watch the dancers. I glanced at the more notorious bounty hunters standing along the back wall, watching the proceedings indifferently.  
Jabba tugged at the chains of one of the dancers on the floor. I grimaced. Time for another Rancor feeding. I closed my eyes and covered my ears to spare myself the gruesome details and finally let myself look and hear when things seemed to have died down.  
Not wanting to glance into the newly bloodied Rancor pit, I looked at the archway entrance instead, thinking to myself that the Rancor was to be my fate one day as well.  
A female figure cloaked in black entered the inner court almost as soon as I looked up at the entrance. I saw strands of gold red hair from the dim lights and figured the Rancor pit was to be my death...unless fate intervened again. 


End file.
